


Don't Look Down 'Cause You Could Fall

by siranonnymouse



Series: This Beautiful Disaster [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Cannon-compliant through season 3, Canon-Typical Violence, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, F/F, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-08 01:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21227492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siranonnymouse/pseuds/siranonnymouse
Summary: “It’s a long story, and I promise we will tell you every detail soon,” Micah said, stepping forward to embrace Glimmer as well. “But while we’re dealing with surprises…there’s one more we should get out of the way before we go any further.”Adora tensed as Micah moved out of the way and the cloaked individual stepped forward hesitantly. They raised slender arms and gently pushed back their hood.“Hey Adora,” said Catra, looking past Glimmer to where Adora stood with her mouth open.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after All the King’s Horses and presumes knowledge of the events therein. You can probably infer most of the relevant plot points from context clues, but I would still recommend reading ATKH before diving in.

Catra and Entrapta stood on rocky beach looking out over the ocean. The north shore of Beast Island was a narrow strip of land that stood between two large cliffs overlooking endless rolling waves.

Catra turned to the princess.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“I feel like I should be asking you that,” said Entrapta.

“Entrapta…?”

“I’m ready. Let’s do it.”

Catra held up a small device in one hand. It was a thin rectangle painted Horde green. There was a large red button in the center and a blinking yellow light in the top right corner.

Catra pressed the button.

The light turned green and stopped blinking.

“Well that was less dramatic than I was expecting,” said Entrapta.

Two hours later they were sitting on the beach throwing rocks into the small waves as they rolled up on the shore. Then Catra spotted it; the faint outline of a boat heading their direction. It was one of the smaller skiffs, probably sent off from a larger ship further out at sea. It cut a line through the water toward the beach where Catra and Entrapta were now rising to their feet.

The boat hit the sand and immediately four soldiers leapt out, flanking the boat, guns at the ready. Leona, the hawk-hybrid Force Captain who had deposited Catra on Beast Island some months earlier strode forward, arms crossed.

“I can’t say I’m surprised to see you,” she said with a laugh. “You have proven yourself to be tenacious. Also, dumb. How many times does Hordak have to try to get rid of you before your stop running back to him begging for approval?”

Catra crossed her arms and smirked. “What can I say? Island living didn’t agree with me and you’re my only option for a ride back.”

Leona gestured to the boat. “Well it’s your gamble.” She turned to Entrapta. “Hordak will be pleased to see you again, princess. I think he has a nice cell all picked out.”

Entrapta glanced at Catra. “Now?” she asked.

Catra smacked her forehead. “That’s my line, ‘Trapta.” She sighed. “Yes. NOW!” The last word was pitched to carry across the rocky outcropping next to them. Catra grinned and leapt toward the Force Captain, claws bared.

A flash of white light burst from behind one of the rocks where Micah was hiding, knocking a soldier over. At the same time, a pink ribbon of mist snaked out from a crevice in the side of the cliff, catching one soldier by the leg and pulling him off balance. The soldier gave a surprised yell and dropped his gun. The pink mist plucked the weapon up and tossed into the ocean.

There was a loud yell as Scorpia leapt over a boulder and charged toward the two remaining soldiers. One of them froze in place, but the other managed to keep his wits and whipped his gun around to aim at her.

A purple tendril of hair plucked the gun from his hands before he could pull the trigger.

“I don’t think so,” said Entrapta, as her hair dismantled the weapon.

Catra had knocked Leona back a few steps and had both feet braced on the Force captain’s shoulders, one hand gripping the front of her uniform. Catra swiped her claws across Leona’s face, watching blood and feathers fly.

The Force Captain flapped backwards frantically, managing to dislodge Catra before she could do more damage. Leona made it a few feet into the air before Catra pounced again, slamming her back into the sand.

As soon as they hit the ground, white light appeared around each of Leona’s wings, pinning her in place. She struggled and flapped against the binding but couldn’t break free.

Catra stepped back, panting.

“Thanks, Micah,” she said, as he came to stand at her side.

Angella stepped out from one of the caverns to stand beside him. “The magic is good for now, but it won’t hold them long after we leave,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” said Catra. “I have a plan.”

In the boat were several pairs of manacles, including a few designed to fit variations on hybrid limbs. Catra and Scorpia bound up the soldiers and the Force Captain, removing their armor and weapons and leaving them sitting in a circle on the beach.

Catra held up a radio she had freed from the ship and threw as hard as she could into the jungle.

“Whenever you manage to get yourselves untangled you can find that and call for a pick-up. As much as I’m tempted to just let the beasts have you for a snack, my compatriots have persuaded me to be more compassionate.”

“Traitors,” Leona spat. “What are you going to do, now, join the glitter brigade?”

Catra sighed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Do you know how hard it is to get glitter out of this mane?” She flipped her hair dramatically. “But as you said, it would be pretty foolish for me to go crawling back to Hordak yet again. You know what they say about the definition of insanity.”

“You’re it?”

Catra giggled. “You are funny. Anyway, thanks for the ride. Toodles.” She wiggled her fingers at the Force Captain before climbing in the boat with Micah, Angella, Scorpia and Entrapta.

They drove the boat around the side of the island to a cove a few miles from Micah’s cabin. They all leapt out and Micah and Angella started to load up their stash of supplies.

Catra turned to Scorpia and Entrapta.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I don’t know how long it will be before we can send another ship out here for you.”

“Not a chance!” said Entrapta. “I have _loads_ to do now that I have full download of the First One’s ruin! I couldn’t possibly leave!”

“And someone needs to keep this one out of trouble while she’s solving the mysteries of the universe,” said Scorpia.

“Entrapta? Is this one of yours?” called Micah from the boat, holding up a tangle of cables.

“Whoops!” Entrapta said, running over to the pile of equipment. “How did that get in there?”

Catra turned back to Scorpia.

“I know you and Entrapta are close, and things are a lot safer with the new magical protections Micah put on the cabin, but it’s still Beast Island. Don’t you want to come back to society?”

Scorpia rubbed the back of her neck. “In all honesty? No. I respect that you have unfinished business, but I don’t know where I fit back on the mainland anymore. I was never a part of the princesses and after everything that’s happened, I can’t see myself going back to the Horde either. At least here I can keep Entrapta and Fredrich safe. And who knows, maybe we will make more exciting discoveries for science!”

“It just doesn’t feel right, leaving you behind.”

Scorpia beamed. “Aw, Wildcat, are you going to miss me?”

Catra scuffed one foot against the sand. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well I just…come here!”

Even though she knew it was coming, Catra had to work not to wiggle out of the hug.

“You’re not leaving me behind,” said Scorpia, still holding Catra tightly in her arms. “You’re just giving me some time to find myself and then we will be reunited.” She set Catra back down. “Hey, are you planning on a costume change now that you’re no longer with the Horde. I know you got rid of that belt buckle, but I don’t even know what you would look like without that headdress.” Scorpia’s eyes widened. “Do you have _bangs_?” She reached out for the headpiece.

“I do not have bangs,” said Catra, batting her hand out of the way. “And no, this isn’t from the Horde.” She touched the headpiece to make sure it was still in place. “I mean, it is in the sense that Shadow Weaver was the one who gave it to me, but she pretty much told me it was trash from some Horde raid as she was gifting it.” Catra shrugged. “Just like Shadow Weaver, to give a gift and an insult at the same time. It’s the only thing I’ve ever thought of as _mine_. I’m keeping it.”

“Just trying to protect you, Wildcat. I wouldn’t want those Bright Moon snobs to wonder about divided loyalties if you stride in there decked out in Horde symbols.”

“I don’t think the headdress is going to be the deciding factor on that front,” muttered Catra.

“We’re all set,” called Micah.

Everyone said their final goodbyes, which involved multiple rounds of hugs from Scorpia and Micah demanding that Entrapta recite all the types of berries that were poisonous to Fredrich. Finally, Catra, Micah and Angella climbed into the boat and shoved off.

As they motored away from shore, Catra tucked herself under an overhang at the stern of the ship and pulled her knees up to her chest.

“Everything okay?” Micah asked, wedging himself into the space next to her.

“I don’t like boats,” she muttered. “Or water. Really mostly the first one because of the second.” She shuddered.

Micah gave her a look. “Remember that whole ‘honesty’ thing we’re trying?”

Catra looked away.

Micah nudged her.

“I’m just nervous,” she said. “I told you I was ready for whatever is ahead but now that it’s happening…what if I’m wrong? What if something triggers me and lose it again?” Her hands clenched into fists, claws digging into her palms.

Micah put one hand over her closed fist. Catra forced herself to relax her grip before she broke skin.

“If that happens, we will deal with it, just like we always have. And if you tell me it’s too much, I’ll put you back on this boat and you can work on taking my place as the next hermit of Beast Island.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “This is on your terms, Catra.”

“What if I don’t get that choice?” She looked up at him. “What if they just toss me in prison and throw away the key?”

“Well first of all, you’ve got the former King and Queen of Bright Moon on your side,” said Micah. “I’d like to think we still have _some _sway over the governing body there. And secondly, the last time I was in Bright Moon we didn’t _have_ a prison, so you will at least have until construction finishes to make your escape.”

Catra smiled despite herself.

“We know this is a risk,” said Micah. “But it’s a calculated one. And I am with you every step of the way.”

Catra nodded. She gazed out over the horizon.

Briefly her gaze caught side of something purple and shimmering that seemed to be skimming along the edge of the water at the same speed as the boat. When she blinked her eyes it was gone.

Micah followed her gaze. “See something? The Horde ship?” he asked.

Catra shook her head. The mirage was gone. “Just a trick of the light.”

***

Someone was running in the hallway. Adora looked up from the map she had been scrutinizing to see several housekeepers and a few members of the kitchen staff rushing by the open door to the study she had commandeered. She poked her head into the hallway and snagged a porter as he rushed by.

“Where is everyone going?” she asked. “Are we under attack?”

“Oh! Uh…She-ra! No. I mean, I don’t know, exactly. I was told there were some travelers headed to Bright Moon that have been causing quite a stir on the road. They should be arriving at the castle any minute.”

Adora frowned. “Does the queen know about this?”

“I think so?” he squeaked. “I was told there was a formal reception party being assembled.”

Adora released him and looked down at herself. She was in a pared down version of her usual clothing—britches, boots and white shirt with the sleeves rolled up (sans Horde markings, Glimmer had finally insisted she accept a new, blank version, even if she continued to resist swapping out the rest of her uniform.) Her jacket and belt were in her room on the other side of the castle. She was a little underdressed for a formal reception party, but she didn’t want to leave Glimmer out meeting a suspicious group of travelers without her. She touched the Sword of Protection, currently in the form of a bracelet on her wrist. At least she could transform if things went the wrong direction.

She followed the flow of people to the front of the castle. Glimmer and Bow were standing out in front flanked by the head of the palace guard and the general of the Bright Moon army. They moved to make room as Adora joined.

“What is this all about?” she hissed to Bow.

“There was a strange report about some travelers on the road, heading toward the castle. It sounded pretty suspicious, so Glimmer wanted to greet them directly.”

Adora shot a concerned look over at Glimmer, whose mouth as set in a tight line as she gazed out over the road ahead of them.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” she asked.

“We didn’t know where to find you.”

Oh. “Sorry.”

Bow shot her a quick smile.

Glimmer gasped, interrupting their conversation. Bow and Adora’s eyes snapped back to the road.

Approaching from the bridge leading up to the castle were three figures. One was a tall, lithe woman with delicate wings curving behind her. The second was a man, shorter than the woman beside him, with dark hair greying at the temples pulled into a top knot above his head. The third figure Adora did not recognized and was covered by a large blue cloak with the hood pulled low over their head. She paid them no mind, too distracted as she pieced together why the rumors had caused such a stir.

“Mom…Dad? How?” Glimmer cried out and rushed forward before Adora could react enough to stop her. Adora and Bow exchanged a look and ran after her.

“Glimmer!” Angella ran forward and swept her daughter up in her arms.

“I thought you were dead,” Glimmer cried, returning the embrace.

“Not dead,” sobbed Angella. “Just trapped. But I’m back now and even more than that….” She released Glimmer and gestured to Micah standing beside her. “I found your father.”

“I thought you were dead too!” Glimmer laughed a little hysterically. “How is this possible?”

“It’s a long story, and I promise we will tell you every detail soon,” Micah said, stepping forward to embrace Glimmer as well. “But while we’re dealing with surprises…there’s one more we should get out of the way before we go any further.”

Adora tensed as Micah moved out of the way and the cloaked individual stepped forward hesitantly. They raised slender arms and gently pushed back their hood.

“Hey Adora,” said Catra, looking past Glimmer to where Adora stood with her mouth open.

Adora reached for the bracelet, forming it back into the Sword of Protection. She stepped in front of Glimmer and held the sword aloft.

“For the honor of….”

“Wait!” Micah leapt between them holding out both arms. “I know this is a lot of take in and emotions are high right now, but Catra is not your enemy. She saved us.”

Adora paused, still holding the sword in the air, brow furrowed in confusion. She looked to Glimmer who was looking at Angella.

“It’s true Glimmer. Adora. As Micah said we have much to explain. Please, let us not start out our joyful reunion with fighting.”

Adora lowered the sword to the ground, not taking her eyes off Catra.

“I…,” Adora started. Catra was staring at the ground, shoulders hunched forward as though she was trying to make herself as small as possible. In her mind’s eye Adora could see flashes of her; standing proud, hand on her hip as she threw the sword past Adora into the pit of the Crystal Cavern, smirking as she pulled the lever for the portal, face half gone as she crowed in triumph over Adora, claws bared.

Adora swallowed. “I…have to go,” she said finally before she turned and fled back into the castle.

***

Catra watched Adora leave and felt so heavy she thought she might sink into the ground where she stood. Instead she forced herself to straighten and took a deep breath, waiting for the rest of the Bright Moon contingent to finish processing this series of dramatic reveals. If she weren’t so terrified, she might have found it funny to watch them all gaping at her in shock.

“You can’t be serious,” Glimmer was saying to Angella. “She is the entire reason you were stranded in the first place!”

“Glimmer, I know that this is a lot to take in all at once. But Catra has reformed. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

“Your majesty,” said Bow stepping forward. “It’s wonderful to see you back again, but a lot has happened since you have been gone. When Catra opened the portal, it didn’t just affect the Bright Moon line of succession.” He turned to Catra. “Maybe you have reformed, maybe this is just another trick from the Horde. But either way we can’t forget about the harm you caused when you were our enemy.”

“Bow is right,” said Glimmer, pulling herself up and, for the first time since she had rushed toward Angella, she looked something like a queen. “We have a lot of things we need to sort out. I am not about to give the person who nearly destroyed our home a free pass just because I’m grateful to be reunited with my family.” She turned to the palace guard. “Take her to the holding cell.”

“We have holding cells now?” Catra overheard heard Micah whisper to Angella.

“It’s the spare room,” said Angella with a huff. “We had it converted when…wait a minute.” Angella looked up. “Where are you keeping Shadow Weaver?”

Catra’s stomach turned. She shot a frantic look at Micah who placed a hand on her shoulder.

Glimmer noticed the exchange and glared at Catra. “She’s…not here anymore.”

“What? Where has she gone? What happened?” Angella’s voice raised in pitch.

Glimmer sighed and looked away. “It’s complicated.” Catra snorted. Glimmer shot her a look. “Something to say?”

“Just sympathetic,” said Catra. “I lost Shadow Weaver once too.”

Glimmer gave a frustrated groan. “I didn’t _lose _her. She was…helpful for a while. She just had a more flexible view on morality that…. Aurgh! Why am I explaining myself to _you_?” She pointed at Catra. “Take her to the cell _now_.”

The palace guard stepped forward and placed a hand on Catra’s other shoulder. Micah looked down at her. Catra gave him her best attempt at a smile. She suspected it wasn’t very convincing, but it seemed to reassure him enough to release her other shoulder.

“I’ll come check on you as soon as I can,” he said. Catra nodded and allowed to the guard to lead her away.

“We should talk,” she heard Micah saying to Glimmer as they went into the castle.

Catra meant to keep her eyes on the ground as they walked to the “holding cell” but the décor of Bright Moon was so extravagant she kept finding herself staring off in one direction or another. At one point the guard leading her tightened her grip on Catra’s shoulder and she realized she had started to step off to the side to get a better look at an elaborate jeweled statue. She bowed her head and allowed herself to be led.

She laughed aloud when she saw the room where they were taking her.

It was clear that some effort had been made to scale things down. The walls were empty with hooks at regular intervals where art must have once hung, and there were several rows of towering bookshelves that were barren. The effect only made the room look more gargantuan. Ten walls, each divided by intricate patterns of wood carvings, curved up to form a towering dome high above Catra’s head. Each wall had a large window pieced together by multicolored glass, some of which forming new patterns and others depicting people, animals or artistic scenes.

There was a bed on one side that must have been three again as wide as any of the cots Catra had ever slept on, even when she had been second in command. There was a single pillow in the center and a deep maroon blanket that was clearly meant for a much smaller piece of furniture. There was a sort of half-couch thing backed against the end of the bed with another single cushion tucked into one side. Other than that, the only furniture in the room was a large desk and wooden chair facing out toward the entrance way.

And then of course there was the waterfall.

Catra shook her head and walked into the center of the room.

The guards closed the door behind her.

“Welcome to Bright Moon,” she said to herself.

***

Adora was sitting on one of the back balconies of the castle. It was nearly moonset and she was resting her chin on her hands as she looked out at the changing colors in the distance.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the soft scrape of a boot on stone from behind her.

“Hi, Bow,” she said without turning around.

“Is this one of the want-to-be-left-alone times or one of the need-to-talk-things-through times?” Bow asked.

Adora smiled and laid her head on one arm to look back at him. “I think I’m done with the being alone part so come help me make sense of my mind.”

Bow come to stand beside her.

“So. Catra, huh,” he said after a minute.

“Yeah. And Angella. And Micah.”

“It’s a lot. They uh…just got done telling us the whole story of how they got here. Pretty wild.”

Adora looked over at him. “What do you think about all this?” She sighed. “Who am I kidding. About Catra. What do you think about Catra?”

“I think that no one blames you for walking away. No matter what she has or hasn’t done to earn Angella and Micah’s trust, no one expects you to just forgive her and move on.” He gave a little laugh. “Honestly I think Glimmer is just looking for an excuse to send her packing.” He frowned. “Or worse.”

Adora sighed and buried her head in her hands.

“Why do I get the feeling that was less helpful than I meant it to be?” asked Bow.

“No, you’re…you’re great, Bow.” Adora picked up her head. “I just…I thought it was done. After the portal I thought Catra and I had exhausted our last chance at mending the friendship. I thought I had moved on and the next time we saw each other we would be enemies.” She shook her head. “But seeing her now brought everything back. All the hope I had that we could reconcile, all the pain at seeing her trying to hurt the people I care about again and again. All of the regret for how things were back at the Horde.” Adora scrubbed her face with her hands. “Sorry I just….”

“Don’t be sorry, Adora. You’re allowed to feel whatever you feel about her.”

“Am I?” said Adora. “We are going to have to figure out what to do with her soon and what I _feel_ is…hope. But I’ve been so wrong about her for so long and every time I miscalculate, people get hurt….” Tears welled up in her eyes and she choked back a sob.

“Woah, woah, Adora, slow down. This isn’t all on you,” Bow said, grabbing her hands.

“Isn’t it?” she asked, voice shaky.

“No! Look, even if you wanted to make this decision unilaterally, you’re a part of an alliance now and we make decisions together. But leaving that aside, it’s okay to admit that you don’t know the right answer in this situation. Trust me, Glimmer and the others will _understand_. If you feel too close to this, then let the council decide was to do about Catra. Sometimes being a leader is knowing your limits.

“But no matter what the official decision is, _you_ get to decide if you want to forgive her. That’s not up to the alliance or Angella or even me and Glimmer. If you want to forgive Catra, that’s a personal decision, between you and her. And no matter what you decide on, what she does after that is not your fault _or_ your responsibility.”

Adora blinked. She turned and looked back out at the sky where the moon had dipped below the skyline. “Shadow Weaver always used to tell me that I needed to keep Catra in line and it was my fault when she got punished for disobeying. Even knowing how awful and controlling she was…it’s still hard to shake that feeling.”

Bow laid a hand on her shoulder. “I want you to know that I support you. If you want to give up on Catra, I get it. But I also know that you don’t choose your friends lightly, and if you say she’s worth giving a second chance well…I don’t think that comes from nowhere.”

Adora smiled and put her hand over his. “Thank you, Bow. You always know how to put things into perspective.”

They watched the sky grow darker together. At one point, Adora thought she saw a strange purple shadow climbing up the walls of one of the towers, but when she went to point it out to Bow it had already vanished.

***

The window in the back of the room gave Catra a decent view of the training yards, where a subset of the Bright Moon army was practicing formations. She rolled her eyes at their unwieldy uniforms, but she had to admit they moved together with remarkable grace. For all the battles she had attended, Catra was almost always off chasing She-ra and had never paid much attention to Bright Moon’s fighting techniques.

Beyond the training yards she could see some square plots of land. Her hands itched to dig into the dirt again. The gigantic room was starting to feel claustrophobic already.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of the door opening as Micah slipped into the room.

“Sorry it took me so long, I got lost about three times on my way here. A lot can change after seventeen years,” he mused, closing the door behind him. “How are you holding up?”

“The chair to humanoid ratio has really improved compared to Beast Island,” Catra commented, gesturing to the seating at the end of the bed. “What’s the news?”

Micah sat down with a sigh. “It’s complicated. What did you know about why Hordak wanted the portal in the first place?” he asked.

Catra paced back over to the window and looked out. “Something about bringing through a bigger army to crush Etheria. And the stuff Entrapta told me about him being a faulty clone.”

“He’s the clone of someone called Horde Prime,” said Micah. “A bigger and badder Hordak with a vast army that is trying to take over an entire universe of planets.”

“He can’t have succeeded in bringing him through,” said Catra. “Bright Moon wouldn’t still be standing.”

“That’s true,” said Micah. “What Glimmer and Bow told me is that because the portal was activated they are aware of us now. They’re trying to create a new safe portal to transport the full army through, but in the meantime, they have been creating smaller rifts able to transport just enough of their troops to keep the Princess Alliance busy. The princesses are scattered dealing with these incursions all over Etheria.”

“That’s what Bow meant about Bright Moon’s succession not being the only thing the portal changed.”

“So it seems.” Micah paused. “They are mostly willing to accept Angella and my word that you are genuine in your wish to join our side.”

“Why am I sensing a ‘but’ in there….”

“But not everyone is convinced that you can be trusted right out of the gate.” 

Catra smirked. “Your daughter?”

Micah looked pained. “Glimmer is taking her role as queen during a time of war very seriously. She is afraid of taking an unnecessary risk and I…I don’t agree with her, but I see where she is coming from.”

Catra snorted. “An unnecessary risk,” she said.

“That’s how Glimmer sees it.”

“Isn’t Angella queen now? Can’t she override Glimmer?”

Micah shook his head. “Angella and I discussed it before we arrived. We’re not willing to wrest power back from Glimmer, not when she’s just starting to grow into her role as leader. We will serve as advisors, but Glimmer with remain queen.”

“And what is _Queen_ Glimmer going to do with me in the meantime?”

“For now, you’ll stay here. When enough of the princesses return from their various missions there will be an official council meeting to discuss the next steps.”

Catra turned to Micah. “They want me to stay here, stuck in this room. For how long?” She felt her heartbeat speed up.

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t need to feel like a prison cell. I can ask them to bring back some of the usual furniture and decorations,” Micah said, looking around the empty chamber. “It is a little…stark.”

“It’s not about the _room_,” Catra spat. “It’s that you’re going to dump me here and forget about me while you prance off with your new reunited family.” She could feel the panic rising from her stomach and her breath starting to come in small gasps.

“Hey!” Micah said, rushing forward and taking her hands in his. “Slow it down. Remember your focus.”

Catra nodded shakily and focused on slowing her breath until the panic subsided. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean that.”

Micah smiled and leaned his forehead against hers. “We talked about this, remember. A lot has happened in a very short period. Everyone needs some time to adjus. I’m not going to leave you. We both know where the boat is stashed if you want to pull the plug. But this is day _one._ Let’s at least give it to the end of the week before we give up on things, okay?”

Catra nodded again. “It’s just…this was _her_ room. I can smell her here. Not everywhere, but there are moments when it feels like I’m right back in Fright Zone, locked in her same prison cell.”

“Now _that _I might be able to help with,” said Micah. “In the meantime, I have something I think you’re going to like.” He reached into his pouch and produced a small, brown, roughly cone-shaped object and presented it to Catra.

“Uh…what is this?” she asked. She took it from him and noted a familiar sprig of green on the wide end. “A weird new fruit?”

Micah looked entirely too pleased with himself. “You remember those wild strawberries from Beast Island?”

“The ones we could never get to grow in our temperamental little garden?”

“In Bright Moon they are much easier to come by. Sometimes we take them and dip them in this sweet substance called chocolate.”

Catra looked at Micah and then back at the chocolate-covered-strawberry. She shrugged and bit into it.

A deep sweetness exploded on her tongue mixed with the sharper, juicy flavor of the strawberry. Catra closed her eyes and moaned.

Micah laughed. “Good?” he asked.

“Please tell me this is a regular thing in Bright Moon,” said Catra.

“You are going to learn that there is a whole lot more to cuisine than my stodgy stew. Chocolate-covered-strawberries are just the beginning.”

Catra clasped her hands together, eyes wide with excitement. “Okay, I will give staying a try.”

Micah laughed. “If I’d known it was that easy, I would have bribed you with food ages ago.”

True to his word, Micah had items sent to make the room more “comfortable” as he put it. Mostly it was a gigantic pile of pillows that Catra had no idea what to do with. Eventually she arranged them in a large heap that turned out to be well-suited for napping.

More importantly was something called a “scented candle” which helped to cover the faint scent of Shadow Weaver that still lingered in the room. Catra wasn’t entirely sure she cared for the floral smell that replaced it, but it was certainly preferable to being reminded of the room’s previous occupant.

As it was starting to grow dark there was a knock at the door. She sat up from her nest and ran her hands through her hair before calling, “Come in!”

The door opened and Adora stepped through.

Catra scrambled out of her pillow pile, tripping slightly as she stepped off the bed. Adora smiled.

“I…uh…had to have them get rid of most of the pillows when I came,” said Adora. “My first night I kind of murdered some of them.”

“I think Micah meant them to be welcoming,” said Catra. “They have a lot of…stuff here.”

Adora smiled for a moment before her face grew more serious. “Can we talk?”

Catra nodded maybe a little too vigorously. “Welcome to my not-so-humble abode?” she said and immediately regretted it.

Adora didn’t seem to take notice. She walked in at sat down on that obnoxious little half-couch that Micah had called a chaise-lounge. Catra went to sit beside her. She drew both knees up, resting her bare feet on the seat, and wrapped her arms around her legs.

“Bow filled me in on what happened on the island. Kind of a wild story.”

Catra nodded.

“And now you’re here.”

Catra nodded.

There was a long silence.

“Wow,” Adora burst out. “This is harder than I expected. Usually I rely on you to do all the talking and I can just respond.” She buried her face in her hands and sighed before lifting her head up again. “I just don’t understand, Catra. After all the times I tried to get you away from the Horde, to join the rebellion…why now? What changed?”

Catra cleared her throat. “I did. I guess.”

Adora looked up at her.

“You never just came and asked me to leave, Adora. Every time it was in the middle of some battle, some challenge, some fight where we were standing opposed. After spending my whole life in your shadow…I wasn’t willing to give up the scraps of power the Horde had finally granted me to run off an be your sidekick again.”

“I never saw you that way,” Adora protested.

“But I saw me that way. I’m not trying to blame you, Adora, not anymore. But it’s the truth. I could never succeed when I was next to you, Shadow Weaver’s perfect solider. And the fact that you didn’t see it; honestly, that hurts too.”

Adora looked down. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“No.” Catra reached out to put her hand on Adora’s arm but then hesitated and drew back. “I mean, this isn’t about you needing to be sorry Adora.” She gave a little laugh. “This is supposed to be _my_ apology.”

Adora looked at her expectantly.

“Which I haven’t done yet,” said Catra. “Right.” She drew herself up and tried to remember the words she and Micah had rehearsed before they left the island. “I’m sorry, Adora. Really, profoundly sorry for everything that I put you through.” She paused. “I could start listing specifics, but we might be here for a while.”

“I don’t know if I forgive you yet,” said Adora, frowning. “I want to, but after everything we’ve been through, I don’t know that I can trust my instincts around you anymore.”

Catra nodded and tried to fight down the lump in her throat. _Everyone needs some time to adjust,_ she heard in Micah’s voice.

(Another, darker part of her whispered in a deep, melodic voice, _Adora will never forgive you. Not after what you’ve done._)

“I want to try, though,” Adora was saying. “I’ll come back and see you again, even while they’re waiting for the other princesses. I think…if this is going to work, we might need to get to know one another again.”

Catra nodded. In the silence Adora stood to leave.

Catra cleared her throat. “Before you go…,” she started before trailing off. Adora looked back at her.

Catra wrapped her arms around herself and didn’t quite make eye contact with Adora.

“Before you go, there was something I….” Catra stood and faced Adora.

The line in between Adora’s eyebrows deepened.

Suddenly, Catra surged forward, wrapping her arms around Adora’s chest and gripping the back of her jacket. Adora let out a little gasp in surprise but didn’t fight it. She let her arms settle around Catra’s waist and pulled her in close. Catra squeezed her eyes closed and buried her head in Adora’s shoulder, trying to ignore the damp spots that were forming on the cloth beneath her face.

They stayed like that for a long minute before Adora stepped back. Catra studied her feet and did not rub her eyes.

“I’ll see you soon,” said Adora. And she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. At some point Catra explained to Entrapta that Hordak thinks Entrapta betrayed him. The whole team also had a heart to heart about the fact that he’s an evil dictator trying to take over Etheria. Entrapta is still not entirely convinced that he's a bad egg (how can anyone who loves science as much as she does be truly evil?) but she does agree she's not safe going back to the Fright Zone.
> 
> 2\. No prize for why Adora is still in a Horde uniform: Horde clothing is very practical and comfortable. It also has the latest in sports technology (breathable, sweat-wicking, waterproof.) Adora tried a few versions of Bright Moon clothing but was never satisfied. Removing the blatant Horde insignia (belt buckle and back of her undershirt) was the only compromise she was willing to make. 
> 
> 3\. You can picture Glimmer as having undergone the costume change we've seen for season 4. Catra's still in her ripped up leggings but she's replaced her Horde insignia belt buckle for a plain one. 
> 
> 4\. Half of my editing process is removing the word "just" from sentences that don't need it. There are probably a lot that escape this process but hopefully not enough that the casual reader will recognize my tic. Although now that I've said it maybe everyone will....
> 
> 5\. Everyone needs a Bow in their lives.
> 
> 6\. I’m not sure if there is an official word on how much time has passed between the start of the show and the end of season three. Catra and Adora are 17/18 in episode per Word of God. In my story Micah was captured when Catra was about 2 years old, so presuming she’s in the 18-20-year-old range at the end of her stay on Beast Island that would be a 16-18 year absence. It also means that Glimmer probably has very few actual memories of her father. 
> 
> 7\. In case you're wondering what Catra looked like when she ate the chocolate-covered strawberry, it was something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uBTQI1qt4Y


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Catra rearranged her pillow nest fourteen different ways. She pulled all the drawers out of the desk before shoving them all back in again. She paced around the room and eventually started running laps around it, occasionally leaping off the desk or flipping over the bed.

The guards brought her meals. Every dish was unique and flavorful. There was always a small treat along with the main dish as well as small scraps of paper identifying the name of each item.

Micah showed up for the evening meal with his own tray of food and a selection of pastries he called “cookies.” They were initially delicious but after the third one the sweetness became cloying and the food made her feel heavy and tired.

Adora did not come by.

The next morning Angella stopped by. They had stilted conversation over a drink Angella called “tea.” Catra didn’t care for it initially until the former queen showed her how to add sugar and milk to flavor it.

After Angella left, Catra ran more laps around the room, tried and failed to scale the windows, perched on top of each empty bookshelf and watched the Bright Moon guard run drills out the window.

Adora did not come by.

On the third day Catra ate only half of each meal that came through and tore up the little treats (today they were called mini cupcakes) into tiny crumbs that she spread all over the tray.

Adora did not come by.

On the fourth day Catra destroyed her room.

She woke up to light streaming in through large windows. The door to the room opened and a tray was left on the floor. She extracted herself from the pillows and went to inspect the offering. There was a bowl labeled as “oatmeal” with a small jar of some sweetener identified as “syrup” next to it and instructions for mixing the two. Catra tried a taste with the syrup and again without. It reminded her of the gray ration bars.

She ate about three bites before pushing it away. She could hear talking outside the door. She stood and moved closer to hear better. 

“I wish I could have seen it,” said one voice. “She busted up those Horde tanks like it was nothing!”

“It must be so much easier now,” said a different voice. “We have the Horde’s best weapon locked in the spare room!”

There was a titter of laughter and the next words were lost as they moved further down the hallway.

Catra leaned back against the door and looked around the barren room. She could feel the sudden uptick of her heart rate, the quickening of her breath. Somewhere in the back of her mind Micah was telling her to focus on her left foot and slow her breathing, but it wasn’t penetrating the fog of frustration.

She imagined She-ra out there, glowing gold, waving around her magical sword, saving the day just like she had always dreamed. And where was Catra? Stuck in a room waiting for another chance to grovel, getting fed like a pet.

Her eyes landed on the tray of food, partly eaten still laying out on the floor. She ran up and kicked it hard, upending the bowl and sending bits of oatmeal scattering around the room.

_So much for their perfect shiny prison_, she thought.

She picked up the bowl and threw it at the wall, enjoying the sound it made as it shattered. The container of syrup went the same way, smearing thick amber liquid that ran down the white paint.

The door to the room opened a few inches and Catra let out a loud growl. It slammed shut immediately.

She started in on the pillows next, enjoying the feel of her claws ripping through the fabric and tearing through stitches. She threw fistfuls of down into the air and watched it float around her.

By the time she ran out of energy, she had made her way through most of the cushions, upended the desk and two of the bookcases. She sat amidst the wreckage panting as the adrenaline wore off and the realization of what she had done started to set in.

That was how Micah found her hours later, covered in feathers, sitting on the floor with fabric, food and bits of broken pottery strewn about the room.

“Don’t say it,” she said, not looking up as walked through the door.

“I was actually going to say I’m impressed it took you this long to snap,” he commented and closed the door.

“Ha ha,” replied Catra.

“I’m serious,” said Micah. “Don’t forget I’ve been living with you for the past few months; I never thought we were going to get through this without some sort of meltdown. I’m honestly relieved that nothing is on fire and no one got hurt.”

“Your faith in me is overwhelming.”

Micah walked over and crouched down in front of her. “This is hard, Catra. There will always be setbacks, but you’re making progress. Believe it or not this,” he gestured to the room, “is progress. I’m not saying I want this to be your default method of dealing with stress—we’d run out of pillows for one thing—but I’m fine sweeping up a few feathers knowing you’re not running away.”

Catra looked up at him with a wobbly smile.

“Do you want to tell me what set all of this off?” he asked.

Catra sighed and pulled her knees up to her chin. “I’m so _useless _here. There’s nothing to do all day except wait for people to stop by and think about the war that’s happening without me.”

Micah looked around the room. “That’s a good point, actually. I was figuring it wasn’t that different from the cabin, but at least you had the garden there. And a few books.” He turned back to Catra. “I could see about getting you some more novels to read. Did you have any hobbies in the Fright Zone? Other than the whole crushing-your-enemies thing?”

Catra scowled at him but the corners of her lips were pulling up. “I used to make dumb little pictures,” she said.

Micah nodded. “Art supplies,” he said. He grinned. “And maybe some books on art techniques? I doubt you had much to work with in the Fright Zone.”

“There was one set of colored pencils I swiped from the playroom for the younger kids, but Shadow Weaver wasn’t a bit fan of that hobby.”

Micah rested a hand on her shoulder. “I know this isn’t addressing the underlying issue of you being stuck in here, but maybe it will help you pass the time while we wait for the alliance members to get back.”

Catra didn’t quite meet his eye. “Adora?”

“She-ra’s been managing some conflicts at the border. Did you…have you two had a chance to…?”

Catra nodded. “We talked. She…said she would come back.”

“Ah,” said Micah.

Catra could feel her cheeks coloring but he didn’t say anything else.

They spent the afternoon cleaning up the mess. That night a stack of books was delivered to the room as well as several pads of blank paper and a set of paints.

***

Adora returned a few days later.

Micah had told Catra she was expected and that the last battle had been a rough one. It was clear he was trying to temper her expectation that Adora would stop by immediately, so Catra tried to focus on her drawings and not think about it. She was a bit surprised, then, when she heard a gentle knock on her door and Adora’s voice coming from the other side.

“Hey Catra, it’s me. Can I come in?”

“You know you are the only one who knocks,” Catra pointed out when Adora entered the room. Catra was sitting at the desk where she had been working on one of her sketches. This was of one of the soldiers she had observed outside the back windows. “Everyone else just comes right in.”

Adora shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you would want to see me.”

_I always want to see you_. Catra pushed down the thought and watched Adora cross the room to sit on the edge of the bed facing Catra. She looked…tired. There was a new cut on her right temple and a healing bruise on the side of her neck.

“I heard there was…an incident while I was out,” said Adora.

Catra felt her face heat up and had the sudden urge to throw herself out of one of the many windows. It was bad enough knowing the rest of the castle had heard about her freak out but trying to explain her weakness to Adora….

“I…uh.” Catra cleared her throat. “It’s fine now. I have it under control.”

“It’s not fine, Catra! You can’t _do_ things like that when the princesses are actively trying to decide if you can be trusted.”

Catra stood. “_You_ don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do anymore, _princess_,” she snapped, leaning over the desk toward Adora.

“I’m just trying to protect you!”

“It’s not your job to protect me, Adora! How many times do we need to fight about this before you let me screw up my own life in peace?”

“Is that what you want?” Adora shouted, standing up. “To screw things up here so we throw you back to the Horde?”

“Of course not!” Catra shouted back. “But I didn’t magically turn into a perfect princess on Beast Island and you berating me for slipping up isn’t going to change that. I’m _trying_. Why can’t that be enough for you?”

Adora went pale and sank back down on the bed again. “You’re right,” she said.

Catra froze, heart pounding. “I’m…what?”

Adora scrubbed her face with her hands. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I told myself I would stop acting like you’re my responsibility but…it’s hard with you right here.”

Catra felt her heart returning to a normal rhythm. She walked around the desk and went to sit next to Adora.

“It’s Shadow Weaver, isn’t it? You hear her telling you what to do, what to think.”

Adora nodded. “She would always say I needed to do a better job of controlling you. Even saying it aloud right now, I know how messed up that is, but I still feel….”

“Like you have two minds in your head,” said Catra. “There’s the part of you that knows she was wrong and evil and controlling, but then this other little part that always wonders if she maybe had a point.”

Adora looked at Catra, eyes wide. She nodded again. “That’s it exactly.”

Catra smiled sadly. “Did you know Micah was her student? Back when she was a part of the sorcerers.”

“Light Spinner,” said Adora.

“Sounds like she was just as manipulative back then.” Catra paused. “It…helps,” she said. “Talking to someone else who gets it.”

“I never really have,” Adora admitted. “Other than fighting with Glimmer when Shadow Weaver was here…”

“What…uh…what happened with that?” asked Catra, pulling one foot up on the bed so she could wrap her arms around her knee.

Adora snorted. “One thing I’ve realized about Shadow Weaver is that when she gets cocky, she’s prone to making some tactical errors. She got her claws into Glimmer pretty solidly for a while there, but then she tried to turn her against Bow and well….”

Catra giggled. “Man, even I’m not that dumb.”

“After that it was pretty easy to send her packing.” Adora looked off into the middle distance. “I argued for something more permanent. I feel like we haven’t seen the last of her.”

“Would you have done it? Something more permanent. If they had let you.”

Adora shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“That seems to be the general theme,” said Catra. Adora looked at her curiously. “You, me and Micah. We all had our chance to be rid of her and none of us could go through with it. And so she lives to scheme another day.”

“Ugh,” Adora lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. “I’m so _tired_ of all of this. And just tired in general.”

“Should I be flattered that your first thought was to check on me?”

Adora gave her leg a little punch. “Sure, if you find being highest on my list of thing-that-stress-me-out flattering.”

“You don’t seem that stressed right now,” Catra said, looking down at her. Adora’s eyes were still closed, eyelashes blending into the dark circles under her eyes.

“Yeah, maybe not,” Adora mumbled.

Catra watched her breathing slow and even out. She smirked when she realized that Adora had fallen asleep and tried to ignore the warm feeling in the center of her chest.

Catra gave her a few minutes to wake up again, but she didn’t stir. She wrestled Adora out of her boots and unfastened the belt before pulling her onto the bed more fully. Adora mumbled something incomprehensible and curled up on her side.

Catra stared at her for a long minute before she started to feel a little creepy. She tried to go back to her sketching, but she kept glancing up at Adora’s still form on the bed every few minutes. Eventually she gave up, leaving the books and papers and paints strewn across the desk as she walked over to the bed.

The bed was enormous, but Adora was curled up on her side, at the very edge. Her knees were bent, not quite in the fetal position but just enough that her body barely spanned half the length of the mattress.

Catra sat at the foot of the bed. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She looked around the room, at the fading light from the setting moon. Then she gave into instinct and curled up at Adora’s feet and fell asleep.

***

Catra woke suddenly to the sound of the door crashing open and several voices talking all at once.

“I found her, she’s in here!”

“What is she doing…Adora! Adora wake up!”

Catra sat up, rubbing her eyes to see Glimmer, Micah, Angella, Bow and the plant princess all gathered at the side of the bed.

“Huh? Wha…?” Adora was sitting up and blinking her eyes looking completely disoriented. “Glimmer?”

“Where have you been?” shouted Glimmer. “We have been turning the castle upside down looking for you!”

“I…what time is it?”

Everyone’s attention was on Adora. Catra slipped off the bed and made her way over to the desk where she started quietly sliding half-finished pictures into a pile that she slid underneath one of the open books. Micah looked up and caught her eye but said nothing.

“It’s mid-morning and _you don’t get to ask the questions right now_! Where were you?”

“I came to see Catra. I guess I must have fallen asleep.” Adora’s eyes widened. “Mid-morning? How did I sleep so long?”

“You ‘must have fallen asleep?’ Adora, you’re in the holding cell of a _prisoner_ and former _Horde soldier_. How can you be so careless?”

Catra felt the tip of her tail bristle but kept her focus on organizing the desk.

“Glimmer, _I’m_ a former Horde soldier. Plus, everything is fine. I’m fine. Catra’s not a threat anymore.”

“We are having entire council meetings to make that determination and you thought you would test it out by leaving yourself _completely vulnerable _in her presence for the night?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose! But even if I did, I’m allowed to make these decisions for myself, so could everyone please calm down?” Adora shook herself and fumbled around until she found her boots where Catra had left them at the bedside.

Glimmer scowled. “We are late for the council meeting.” She glared at Catra. “And don’t think we won’t take this incident into account,” she added.

“What are you mad at me for?” said Catra. “Was I supposed to kick the mighty She-ra out of my room single-handedly? Or are you upset I didn’t give you an excuse to throw me out of Bright Moon?”

“Okay, I think that’s enough for now,” said Bow, stepping between them. “Let’s get over to the meeting. Thanks, Catra, sorry to ke you!”

Everyone cleared out except for Micah. Catra sat down at the desk with a sigh and lay her head down on her folded arms. “Don’t you need to go to the meeting?” she mumbled.

“They’re going to take ten minutes figuring out everyone’s seating arrangement. I have time.” He leaned on the desk. “So Adora spent the night….”

Catra lifted her head. “She fell asleep while talking to me and I let her stay. I didn’t know she had a meeting today, but she seemed like she could use the rest.”

“Look Catra, I’m not going to try to micromanage your re-entry into society. I’m just going to put this out there and let you do what you want with it. You still have a long way to go to deal with everything that has happened with you and Adora. Diving right back into being a central part of each other’s lives is risky.”

“It was an accident, Micah. She was just…overworked and she fell asleep. Nothing…untoward happened.”

Micah held up both palms. “That’s all I’ll say,” he said. “I’ll let you know how the meeting goes.”

He left the room. While the door was open Catra saw a flash of purple mist float down the hallway. She rolled her eyes. Was there any place to avoid sparkles and rainbow colors in this place?

***

Adora slid into her seat still feeling a bit disoriented but her grogginess seemed to be fading quickly. She actually felt quite well-rested, which was probably good since by her calculations she had just slept for close to fifteen hours.

_I guess I really needed it_, she thought.

Fortunately, most of the princesses were known for being late to alliance meetings, so she was still one of the first to arrive. She studied her hands and tried to ignore the pointed looks Glimmer was shooting at her from across the table.

Finally Glimmer gave a little sigh and stood up.

“Thank you all for coming today. It’s been a challenge getting everyone in one place. I think the first thing would be status updates. Frosta, would you like to start?”

Adora generally tried to pay attention at these meeting, but today she found the voices of the other princesses fading as her mind drifted back to Catra.

Adora had not been completely honest with Glimmer. She had fallen asleep by accident the other afternoon, but she had woken up once in the night. It had been dark enough that at first Adora had thought she was in her own bed. But then she had heard the faint, familiar snore that Adora had not heard since before she had left the Horde.

She had lain there, thinking about getting up quietly and going back to her room, but the sound of Catra’s little snores had been so soothing she just…hadn’t wanted to move. She’d drifted back to sleep only to be woken by the clamor of people hours later.

It was a little disturbing to Adora to think how quickly she fell back into old patterns with Catra. Like there had been this missing Catra-shaped hole in her life ever since she had come to Bright Moon. And before the portal maybe Adora wouldn’t have argued with that, but it had been months since she had told Catra to live with her decisions. She couldn’t say she hadn’t thought at all about her former friend in that time, but she had thought things had shifted to a more bittersweet status quo.

Maybe Glimmer was right. Maybe Adora was too careless.

“Adora? Adora!” Glimmer’s voice cut through her musings.

“Ah, what?” Adora jumped to attention.

Glimmer had her arms crossed. “Your status update?”

“Oh! Sorry. Yes!” Adora snapped into solider mode and gave her report on the Eastern border.

Glimmer sighed as she finished. “Fine. I guess the next order of business is what to do with the defecting Horde captain currently in holding.”

There was a murmur amongst the princesses. Adora sighed. They all already knew Catra was here, so she didn’t know why the sudden need to chatter about it.

“Uh…didn’t she try to end reality as we know it?” asked Mermista. “Can’t we just send her back to Beast Island or something?”

Adora stared down at her hands and tried to keep her face neutral.

“She did go to a lot of trouble to come here. And she saved Angella, which is really noble, even if it was kind of her fault that Angella was trapped in the first place,” said Perfuma.

Micah stood and everyone grew quiet. “I know I don’t know most of you well yet, and I certainly was not around for many of the events that led to your understandable distrust. However, I have spent the past several months living with Catra and in that time watched her make remarkable progress toward seeing the error of her ways. Your point is well taken princess,” he nodded to Mermista, “That Catra could easily have stayed or be returned to Beast Island, where she would be no threat to anyone. Certainly, that would be the easiest choice for all of us and honestly for Catra as well. But she would also be of no help to the Alliance there, and I think that would be a disservice both to her and to the rebellion. I know it is hard to trust, and I do not blame anyone for being skeptical. But I do hope you will consider the fact that coming here was a huge risk and she took it out of a desire to make amends for her past mistakes.”

Micah bowed and sat back down.

Angella stood.

“Thank you, Micah. I wanted to share that unlike my husband, I was present for the worst atrocities that Catra committed. You all must know I am the last person who would want to grant her amnesty after she has kidnapped my daughter, attacked my kingdom and threatened the whole universe. But I have also seen the profound change in her as she has been exposed to the world outside of the corrupt society in which she was raised. I don’t believe she has anything to gain by coming here other than the opportunity to right her previous wrongs.”

Glimmer spoke up. “That is all well and good that she’s turned over a new leaf. But are we really willing to fight beside the person who nearly broke our universe out of spite? How do we trust someone that volatile? And just a few days ago she destroyed her whole room out of frustration. What if she decides to go running back to the Horde because she doesn’t get the promotion she expected or Adora starts dating or something.”

Adora’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head at Glimmer’s words. There was a murmur of conversation and few muffled laughs around the room. Adora’s continued to stare intently at her lap.

“It seems like we need a half measure,” said Bow, standing. “We’re not ready to trust Catra completely given her history, but we also don’t plan to keep her locked up in a converted spare room forever. Perhaps we could allow her some greater freedom around the castle and start to introduce her to life in Bright Moon. We can integrate her into planning session and missions later, provided she’s…settling in okay.”

Adora looked up and met Glimmer’s eyes from across the table. Glimmer smiled and gave her a small nod.

“That seems reasonable, Bow. Should we put it to a vote? All in favor?”

There was a chorus of ayes from around the table and Adora let out a relieved sigh.

As the meeting broke up, she walked up to Glimmer.

“You seemed pretty ready to agree to Bow’s proposal, especially after such an eloquent speech about how we can’t trust her.”

Glimmer rolled her eyes. “Someone had to speak up for caution. If I just let my parents run the show, she’d be leading the next attack mission. But you don’t give me enough credit sometimes Adora. I let one Horde soldier into our ranks, and I haven’t regretted it once.”

“I’d like to think that was a little different,” said Adora.

Glimmer didn’t smile. “It was. I don’t trust Catra quite yet, which is why we are going to do this slowly. And I still don’t think you should be spending the night with her!”

“Aurgh,” Adora covered her face with her hands. “It was one time! And an accident!”

Glimmer took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Adora, you might be the only person who’s not realized how dangerous your feelings are for her.” She turned and started walking down the hallway.

“What does that even mean?” Adora called after her.

“Ask Bow,” Glimmer called back and kept walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I would go completely mad if you left me in a room without books or internet for even a few hours so like Micah I think Catra stood up particularly well to make it four days before losing it.
> 
> 2\. There are a few scenes that formed the inception of this story before it grew itself a plot, and Adora accidentally falling asleep in Catra's room is my still favorite. 
> 
> 3\. Catra will never be reformed enough not to snark at Glimmer given the opportunity, no matter how self-defeating it is. Her only hope is for Glimmer to take a page from Micah's book and go with an "amused" rather than "furious" reaction.
> 
> 4\. I have whole headcannon about sex-ed in the Fright Zone...mainly that there wasn't much and Shadow Weaver certainly never gave the girls "the talk" beyond the absolute basics. Adora, being the straight A jock stereotype would have was always been too focused on work to care about romance or dating. Catra, being the"weird girl" stereotype, learned a bunch of questionable facts through gossip and observation but never had any direct experience. So Catra kind of gets why everyone is so upset about finding Adora in her room, but she has no idea what to do about it. Adora is just oblivious.


	3. Chapter 3

“Really?” said Adora. “The gardens?”

“It’s something to do that won’t get everyone’s panties in a bunch,” said Catra feeling her face get red. “And it was a nice way to pass the time back on Beast Island.”

Adora raised her eyebrows.

“Shut up,” snapped Catra. “You’re supposed to be supporting the fact that I have hobbies beyond trying to kill you.”

“I mean, I didn’t say anything.”

Catra let out a huff and threw her hands in the air.

“Are we going or what?”

“Follow me,” said Adora. She led Catra out past the training yards toward the plots of land she remembered seeing from the window of her room. “I would have thought Perfuma would have been a better choice for this particular hobby,” Adora commented as the approached a large domed glass building. “She helps out around here sometimes when we’re not off on missions.”

Catra scrunched up her nose. “No thanks. I’m not interested in someone magically growing whatever they want next to me. I want to get my hands in the dirt.”

“Well this is the person to help. Catra, meet Alanna.”

Alanna was a 7-foot-tall woman with deep brown skin and large curling antlers poking out of tight black curls. “Nice to meet you,” she said, thrusting a hand forward.

“Alanna is the head gardener,” said Adora. “Catra here is interested in helping out.”

“You got any experience?” Alanna asked.

“Nothing on this scale,” said Catra, looking around the greenhouse. “Just a small vegetable garden.”

Alanna nodded thoughtfully. “I can work with that.”

Catra glanced over at Adora and found her beaming at the larger woman. Catra snickered, remembering Adora looking similarly at some of the buff Force Captains back at the Horde.

She nudged Adora with her elbow. “Want to learn something about growing plants?” she asked.

“Uh what? Oh yeah, sure!”

Alanna put them both to work re-planting a set of thin green stalks with crinkly green leaves she identified as basil.

“You don’t think it’s weird that there is an entire patch of this garden devoted to growing something that’s only used as flavoring for other food?” Catra asked Adora as they set to work.

Adora shrugged. “I’ve learned to stop questioning and just enjoy the flavors. I don’t think I could go back to ration bars if I wanted to at this point.” She scooped dirt around her plant and patted it down. “You’re right, this is kind of relaxing. Although I think I prefer a good sparring session.” She wrinkled her nose. “Glimmer and Bow are always trying to relax by sitting quietly somewhere, like on a beach or in these tubs of hot water. But all I do is sit and think.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t come out here earlier,” said Catra, picking up another plant. “The way you were looking at the head gardener there I would assume you’d be finding excuses.”

The crease between Adora’s eyebrows deepened. “Alanna? She’s nice but…what way was I looking?”

Catra giggled. “You have always been a bit slow on the uptake, haven’t you, Adora?”

Adora sighed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Genuinely.”

“You have a type is all. Did you ever meet Scorpia? I feel like you’d like her.”

Adora looked distant. “Other than fighting her, the only time I saw her was in the alternate universe. She was the only other person who knew something was wrong.” Adora frowned. “Mostly because she _hated_ me on sight.”

“Ah.” Cata focused on pouring soil around her next plant. “She’s honestly one of the kindest people I’ve ever met in my life. Which isn’t saying much, but still…. She just has some jealousy issues.”

“Why is she jealous of _me_?”

“Seriously Adora?” Catra sat back. “Do you really want to do this now?”

“Maybe if I knew what we were doing I could answer that,” said Adora.

Catra rolled her eyes. “The level of oblivious that is you….” Adora just crossed her arms and glared. “Me,” said Catra. “Scorpia…liked me. And I was…focused on you. She wanted me to let it go and move on and I…couldn’t.”

Adora stared at her processing that for a minute. Then she gave Catra a sly grin. “So, what you’re saying is that it _is_ because you like me.”

“Ugh, you are the literal _worst_,” moaned Catra, throwing a clod of dirt that Adora ducked with ease. “Yes, I like you. Are you happy?”

“Extremely.”

Catra shook her head, smiling, and went back to work on the planting.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked after a few minutes.

Adora looked up. “Of course.”

Catra kept her eyes focused on the row where she was working. “When you left, that first day, before Thaymor…did you think about the fact that you were leaving me at all? Or did you just…go?”

Adora’s eyes widened. “I…wow, I guess we never talked about that day.” There was quiet for a moment, although Catra thought she could almost hear Adora’s brain working to put together her answer.

“Not at first,” said Adora, finally. “Everything happened so fast. I was looking for the sword and then I was captured and then….”

“Wait,” Catra interrupted. “You did get captured? By Sparkles and Arrow Guy?” She let out a high -pitched laugh. “I knew it!”

Adora scowled. “Their names are Glimmer and Bow as you _well_ know. And they only got the jump on me because the stupid sword knocked me out for a second.”

“Sure, blame the sword,” giggled Catra.

“_Anyway_,” said Adora loudly. “I was captured and then there were these weird bug things we had to fight off, then I was freaking out because I had turned into a princess out of nowhere, then we got trapped in this First One’s ruin…. By the time I had a chance to even think about what I was doing I was too confused and scared to actually consider what it meant not to go back right away.” She paused. “But when we got to Thaymor, before I realized it was Thaymor, they were having this thing called a party….”

“Oh! I saw one of those!” said Catra. “I love parties!”

Adora smiled. “I remember I was seeing all these things I had never seen before—folk dancing and foods that weren’t ration bars and storytelling—and I kept starting to turn to you to see how you were reacting to all these things. Of course, you weren’t there, so I would remember for a few minutes. And then the next extraordinary thing would float by and again I would think how much you would enjoy all of it.” Adora reached out and covered Catra’s hand with her own. “I missed you from the start, Catra. Please believe me, I never wanted to leave you behind.”

Catra stared at the ground where she was working. She nodded once, not looking up, but didn’t trust herself to speak.

Adora released her hand. “We’re almost done here. Then I’ll show you _my_ favorite way to relax.”

***

“Only you would think training is relaxing,” muttered Catra, as she finished wrapping her hands.

“It’s not training, it’s just sparring. Come on, we used to do this all the time when we were bored in the Fright Zone.”

Catra didn’t quite meet her eye as she put herself in a ready position. “There wasn’t anything else to _do_ in the Fright Zone, Adora.”

Adora grinned and rubbed her hands together, cheeks were flushed with excitement. The sight made Catra’s heart speed up.

They started out circling each other. Adora threw the first blow, which Catra was expecting and dodged with ease. Adora recovered quickly and came back with a few kicks in Catra’s direction. They were telegraphed, and it was clear Adora wasn’t putting her full force behind them.

“Come on, Adora,” Catra laughed, ducking out of the way. “I know you’re better than this.”

Adora grunted as she turned and drove an arm backward, elbow glancing off Catra’s hip as she danced out of the way.

Adora whirled around and brought her hands up again. Catra stuck her tongue out, feinted to the left and then threw a punch that Adora ducked. As she dropped down, Adora swept her foot to trip Catra, but Catra was already leaping up, aiming a kick to Adora’s head. This one connected, sending Adora stumbling a few steps back.

Her fingers brushed her forehead where the spot where the kick had connected.

“Nice,” she said.

This time when Adora rushed at Catra, it was clear she wasn’t holding back. Catra dodged left, then right, then dropped to the ground to avoid the blows. Adora anticipated the drop and took advantage with a roundhouse kick that sent Catra sprawling to the ground.

Almost immediately Adora was on her, pinning her arms to the ground and grinning in triumph.

Catra’s heart was pounding again, but this time she didn’t think it was in response to Adora’s smile. She rolled to her side the minute Adora released her and tried to concentrate on slow deep breaths until she felt herself calm a bit.

Adora pulled her to her feet and immediately was back in position. Catra felt a burst of anger in her chest but she was confused. It was just a spar. No reason to get upset. She pushed the feeling back down and lifted her arms.

This time Adora started out with a kick toward her head. Catra was a second too late in ducking and Adora’s boot clipped her ear.

“Getting slow there,” Adora laughed. “You out of practice?”

Immediately the heart pounding anger was back. Before she even thought about it, Catra had sprung at Adora with a flurry of punches. Adora dodged the first two but the third caught her under the jaw, harder than Catra had intended. Her head snapped back, and she stumbled a few steps toward the wall.

Catra pushed her advantage with a blow to Adora’s sternum. Adora caught her hand, barely, grunting as the force the movement slammed her the final distance against the wall.

“Not so slow now,” Catra snapped, lips pulled wide in something that wasn’t quite a smile.

Adora ducked under Catra’s arm and she aimed a kick for Catra’s thigh that connected solidly causing it to buckle. Catra went down to one knee but managed to get ahold of Adora’s jacket as she stumbled. She tugged hard on the clothing, swiping her leg at Adora’s ankle and sending her sprawling to the ground.

Catra straddled Adora aiming punches at her face. Adora managed to dodge them, but she no longer had the carefree grin from the start of the fight.

“Catra, we should stop,” said Adora, trying to pull free of Catra’s grasp.

“Sure, now that you’re losing to want to call it quits,” Catra growled.

“Catra, stop!” Adora threw her weight forward, unbalancing them both. Catra stumbled backwards, barely able to keep herself from falling onto her own back. Her hand came out without thinking, claws bared and scratched deeply along Adora’s cheek.

Adora gave a pained yell and stumbled back and away, her hand up at her cheek. Blood seeped through her fingers.

The shout pulled Catra out of her fugue. She was crouched, panting, hand still out with her claws extended.

Horror washed over her. She immediately retracted her claws.

“Adora! I’m sorry I didn’t….”

There was a hand on her shoulder and Catra whirled around to see one of the palace guard standing behind her with a grim look on her face.

“It’s okay,” said Adora, standing. She pulled her hand away and Catra could see three gashes on the edge of jawline, seeping blood. “I’m okay.”

“Queen Glimmer said any outward hostility and she was to go back to the castle,” said the guard.

“We were sparring,” protested Adora.

“It’s okay,” said Catra, straightening. She swallowed against a rising nausea. “I’ll go.” She turned to follow the guard out of the training yard with one last look back at Adora.

***

“It was an accident, Glimmer. She didn’t mean to hurt me!”

Adora was sitting on the window seat in Glimmer’s room, face freshly bandaged after the healers had a chance to examine her wound.

“It doesn’t matter what she _meant_ to do,” said Glimmer. “She lost control. Exactly the way that I said she would.”

“It was my fault,” Adora protested. “I shouldn’t have asked her to spar with me. It just…triggered something.”

Glimmer threw her arms up in the air. “That’s exactly the point, Adora! She’s a time bomb waiting to explode, and you keep making excuses for her. She just mauled your face because she couldn’t handle losing a friendly spar.”

Adora sighed. “Things were going so well, though. I felt like we were finally starting to interact like…like everything hadn’t gone so terribly wrong.”

Glimmer sat beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. “But things did go terribly wrong. And pretending like it didn’t happen isn’t going to help anyone.”

“You’re right, I know you’re right but….” Adora sighed. “I just can’t help wanting this to work. She’s so close!”

“Of course, you want this to work,” Glimmer said. “You’re in love with her.”

“_What_?” Adora shrieked. Glimmer winced. “I’m not…why would you say…? I’ve never….”

“Ugh, I told you to talk to Bow about this. He would be so much better at explaining,” grumbled Glimmer, slouching down in the seat.

“I…she’s like a…a…sister to me,” Adora was saying. “I can’t be in love with her. I’ve never been in love with anyone, how could I be in love with someone who was trying to kill me?”

“Adora!” Glimmer interrupted her stream-of-consciousness. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have said anything. If you’re in love with her or not, you’re too close to her. You said so yourself when you asked not to not be a part of the decision-making process about her place here in Bright Moon. The call was to give her some minor supervised freedom around the grounds to see how things went. If things went badly, she was to be confined back to her room while we reconsidered. Well? Things went badly. So, we are reconsidering.”

“It just doesn’t seem fair,” said Adora. “We have these meetings and we all talk about her like she’s just some…problem to be dealt with. Isn’t it saying something that the people who know her best are the ones who repeatedly come to her defense? I may be too close to Catra, but you’re too distant.”

Glimmer scowled. “Well excuse me if I don’t really want to sit and exchange pleasantries with the person to kidnapped me, harassed my friends and sent my mom to an alternate dimension!”

“But that’s just it!” countered Adora. “You only know her as a list of her mistakes. There is so much more to her than the person she became because I left.”

Glimmer closed her eyes and breathed in through her nose. “I’m not saying she doesn’t have redeeming qualities. I’m just saying that if she can’t figure out how to harness those redeeming qualities to stop _ripping things apart with her claws_ when she gets upset I’m a little limited in what I can do to help her.”

Adora opened her mouth to reply but noticed Glimmer was staring off into the hallway with a puzzled look on her face.

“Glimmer?” Adora twisted around to see where she was looking. “What are you…?”

Glimmer shook herself. “It’s nothing, I just thought I saw…. Never mind.” She turned back to Adora. “Now if you don’t mind, I have work to do for the kingdom that _doesn’t_ involve your ex-girlfriend.”

Adora gaped at her and then leapt to her feet and stormed out of the room.

“Don’t go running see her,” Glimmer called after her. “I told the guards you’re to stay out until everyone has had a chance to cool off.”

***

Catra decided it was probably safest to stay put. She lay on her back in the center of the large room and just stared up at the high vaulted ceiling.

“Oh good, you’re here,” she said flatly when she heard Micah coming into the room. “Is the boat fired up yet? We should probably head out before it gets too late.”

“That’s it?” said Micah. “You’re calling it quits?”

Catra propped herself up on her elbows at looked at him across the room. “I’m sorry, did you have another speech ready about how proud you are of me for taking a whole whopping day before I flipped out? You’ll have to edit the bit about how at least I didn’t hurt anyone this time.”

“Catra.”

“Micah,” she mimicked.

“Honestly I thought you had more fight in you,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Didn’t you hear? I have too much fight in me. Are you ready to go or do you need time to pack? I can probably take the boat by myself, but I’d love some company for the walk out of town. It’ll keep the villagers from throwing so many rotten tomatoes at my head if I am accompanied by their beloved king.”

“Stop it,” said Micah. “You can decide to leave if you want, but you’re going to have to tone down the pity party if you want any sympathy from me.”

Catra sighed and flopped back. “This was a lot easier before I met you. Scorpia always let me have a good wallow.”

“Do you really want to leave, Catra?”

Catra stared at the ceiling and the intricate designs winding their way up to the central arch. “Shouldn’t I? Isn’t there a point where I run out of second and third and fourth chances? Wouldn’t the mature thing be to admit that I’m just not up to this?”

“Not in my opinion,” said Micah. “But it’s up to you.”

Catra sighed. “I wish it weren’t.” She forced herself to sit up again. “How is Adora?”

“Completely fine aside from her concern about you.”

“Concern about me? I figured she’d be the first one demanding my removal.”

Micah furrowed his brow. “Are we talking about the same Adora? She’s been arguing with Glimmer all afternoon to let you get back out of this room. She feels responsible for provoking you.”

Catra blinked at him. “Oh,” she said. “I guess that does sound like Adora.”

Micah shook his head. “Sometimes I can’t tell if you two know each other way too well or not at all.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Catra demanded.

Before he could answer the door swung open and Glimmer strode into the room in her full queen regalia, holding her staff. She looked surprised to see Micah but quickly regained her composure.

“Dad do you mind if I speak with Catra alone for a moment?”

Micah looked at Catra and then back at Glimmer. Reading his apprehension, Glimmer rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to hurt her, I just want to talk.”

“As if you could,” Catra muttered. Micah glared at her. Catra shrugged.

“Fine,” said Micah, turning to leave. “But I expect both of you to come out of this in one piece.”

“We’ll be fine, Dad,” Glimmer called to the door closing behind him.

“Where is your guard?” asked Catra. “Haven’t you heard, I’m dangerous?” She held up her hand, claws extended.

Glimmer raised an eyebrow. “I’m not particularly scared of you, but if you want to threaten me some more it will make my job here much easier.”

“And what is your job here, my queen?”

Glimmer closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. “You _really_ don’t make this easy do you,” she muttered.

“Sorry,” Catra leaned back, propping herself up on her outstretched hands. “Go ahead.”

“Adora said that I only know you as the list of things you’ve done to harm me and the people that I love. She pointed out that all the people who have spent time with you outside of warfare have spoken up on your behalf. At the time I was mostly annoyed because she was once again defending you after you had hurt her, but she does have a point.”

“So, you came here to see for yourself that I have no redeeming qualities?”

“I came here to see if you had any interest in explaining yourself,” said Glimmer through gritted teeth. “But if you’re just going to be difficult maybe I should go.”

Catra sighed. “Don’t go,” she said flatly. “Ask me what you want to ask.”

“Why did you hurt Adora today?”

Catra blinked. “I don’t know.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Glimmer clenching her fists. “You must have had a _reason_. Were you mad at her? Did she hurt you in the fight?”

Catra chewed on her lower lip and thought back through the spar. “She pinned me,” Catra said, finally. “She pinned me and I got…frustrated.”

“Because she was winning?” Glimmer prompted.

“Maybe,” said Catra. “Also, I don’t like being immobilized. It…reminds of me of things I would rather forget.”

Glimmer regarded her for a moment. “When I ran into you in the Fright Zone with Shadow Weaver, she used my magic to freeze you in place…?”

Catra shuddered. “Yeah that was a favorite spell of hers.”

“I…didn’t realize.”

“You feeling sorry for me, Sparkles?”

Glimmer glared at her. “Hardly.”

“You spent time with my former guardian. You can’t be that surprised to know she went in for a bit of corporal punishment.”

“She wouldn’t have dared with me,” said Glimmer, slowly. “Adora never mentioned physical punishment.”

Catra laughed. “Adora was never on the receiving end of that kind of discipline. She was just told that if I stepped out of line it and required punishment, it was her fault for not keeping a better eye on me. And I was _very_ fond of stepping out of line, so….”

“That…actually kind of explains a lot,” murmured Glimmer, sitting on the couch. “Adora takes _way _too much responsibility for you.” Her eyes narrowed. “And you take advantage of that.”

“Guilty,” said Catra. “In retrospect it’s easy to see that Shadow Weaver played us against each other, but she has a way of worming her way into your psyche.”

Glimmer sighed. “Yeah, I have some firsthand experience with _that_.”

Catra leaned forward. “Adora told me she tried to play you against Bow and that’s where it all fell apart, but she didn’t give me any of the details.”

Glimmer smiled slyly. “She had me going for a while, but when she tried to tell me that Bow was jealous of my success, well…. I’ve known him since we were kids. _I’m_ the jealous one. He would probably cut off an arm if he thought it would help me.

“Once we realized what she was doing, the three of us tried to play up the conflict so she would think she had the advantage. She took the bait. She made shadow versions of Bow and Adora who told the other princesses that I was losing it and wasn’t cut out to be Queen. Even had me stumble in on a few of those conversations.

“Eventually I hinted I was nervous that Bow and Adora were working against me. She _really_ liked that and recommended a meeting of the Alliance to make it formal. Of course, when the other princesses were called to tell me about these awful rumors, they denied everything, and we all turned on Shadow Weaver. Unfortunately, she had saved just enough magic to make an escape before Adora could restrain her.”

Catra cackled with laughter and wiped a tear from one eye. “I would have paid to see the look on her face when you called her out. I never would have guessed Adora could be so devious.”

“It was my idea,” said Glimmer, grinning.

“I have new respect for _you, _sparkle princess,” Catra laughed. “That is downright conniving.”

“We have our moments,” said Glimmer. She grew more serious. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up with someone like that. I told Adora as much, but she doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“She’s not the only one.” Catra crossed her arms over her chest.

“So, explain to me, why did you want to _stay _in that place? You could have run away at any time.”

Catra shrugged “I wasn’t like Adora. I knew the Horde wasn’t all goodness and purity. But I didn’t have a lot of recommend the princesses either. As far as I knew they were just a different side of the same coin. Rainbows and unicorns and reckless disregard for humanoid suffering. At least in the Horde I knew what to expect.” She shrugged. “Plus, once Adora left, I finally had a shot at getting some of the recognition I’d always wanted. It didn’t seem like the time to cut and run.”

“And now that you’re here, do you still think we’re ‘rainbows, unicorns and reckless disregard for humanoid suffering?’”

Catra shook her head. “There are only so many quaint little towns you can level with a tank before it becomes clear which side of a conflict you’re on. But by then I had enough rage and momentum to keep me going. I’d given so much of myself at that point…I couldn’t see a way to stop.”

Catra walked over to the desk and brushed her hand across the papers strewn across it. One half-finished picture of Scorpia looked back at her. “I’m not going to lie to you, princess,” she said, looking up at Glimmer. “I’m no Adora, looking to fix the world and end suffering. I’m here for selfish reasons. I thought power and control would make me feel better after years of being told I wasn’t good enough or strong enough. But it didn’t. I hurt a lot of people I cared about chasing power, but I also hurt myself. I want to make things right, but also I want to heal.” She let her shoulders droop. “I don’t know if that helps or hurts my case, but it’s the truth.”

Glimmer cocked her head to one side. “That’s at least more believable than you suddenly hitting an altruistic streak.”

Catra smirked. “It might be beneficial to have someone with slightly looser morals on your team,” she pointed out.

“Don’t tempt me,” muttered Glimmer, standing. “Adora was right, you deserve to make your own case to the council.” She sighed. “In the meantime, you’re free to go back to supervised freedom around the castle. Emphasis on the word ‘supervised.’ If I get report of any more violence toward living or nonliving things on the grounds, though, you’re going to be confined to this room until we can organize your trip back to Beast Island.”

Glimmer started walking toward the door before pausing and turning around. “By the way, Adora is completely clueless about both your feelings for her and her own feelings for you. If you use that against her in any way, you will disappear from Bright Moon in such a way that no one will even think to look for your body.”

With that Glimmer exited, which spared Catra from having to come up with a reply to _that_.

***

This time when there was a knock on the door, Catra just called out, “Come in Adora,” without looking up from her sketch.

“It was the knocking, huh?” said Adora when she poked her head in. “That’s how you knew it was me?”

“I thought you were forbidden from visiting me per order from you queen?”

Adora closed the door behind her and crossed her arms. “I don’t always do exactly what Glimmer tells me,” she said.

Catra raised an eyebrow but still didn’t look up.

“Also, she said she had talked to you and it’s okay.”

“There it is,” said Catra.

“I’m glad you talked,” said Adora, walking over to the desk. “I think you two would get along if you got to know each other better. You’re very similar.”

“I’m offended, you take that back.”

“Funny, that’s exactly what Glimmer said when Micah made the same observation.”

“She did not!” Catra’s gaze shot up to Adora who was outright laughing. Her eyes narrowed. “She didn’t,” she said flatly.

“No, but she definitely would say something similar if Micah had brought it up.”

Catra scowled back down at her picture. “He wouldn’t dare.”

Adora looked down at the sketch, which was one of her attempts at Micah. “You’ve gotten good!” Adora said. “This is a far cry from those little stick figures you used to draw in the Fright Zone.”

“Those were never meant to be good,” Catra replied, grumpily.

Adora started going through the stack of papers on the desk. “You’ve been busy,” she commented. “Scorpia, Entrapta, Angella…you even have Glimmer and Perfuma in here. None of me?” She winked but there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Catra didn’t meet her eye. “I haven’t gotten around to it yet,” she muttered.

“Maybe you need more practice before you’re able to capture my radiance?” teased Adora, making a dramatic flip of her ponytail.

Catra put down her pencil. “Adora, why are you here?”

Adora hopped up to sit on the edge of the desk. “I wanted to check on you. Glimmer said she lifted your restrictions, but you haven’t left your room yet. I wanted to show you that I’m okay. And that I’m not angry.”

“And what if I’m angry,” muttered Catra. “I am the one who slashed you after all.”

Catra could feel Adora radiating uncertainty. “Uh…are you?”

“No.”

“Good then?”

Catra looked up at Adora, who was backlit, haloed by the bright crystals of the room. Her blue eyes were wide, and her forehead was creased with concern.

“Do you want me to stay?” asked Catra. “I came back here because I thought it was the right thing to do but I’m starting to think I’m more trouble than I’m worth.” She reached out and brushed her hand against the line of cuts on Adora’s jaw.

Adora inhaled sharply.

Catra let her hand drift back down to the table.

“I know it hasn’t been easy, but to answer your question, yes, I want you to stay. I think it’s worth the trouble. I think _you’re _worth the trouble.” Adora paused. “Do you want to leave?”

Catra shook her head, not breaking eye contact. “Not yet,” she said. “I think maybe I'll give it another try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Adora likes super-buff ladies, what can she say? Fortunately for Catra, she doesn’t ONLY like buff ladies…
> 
> 2\. Catra liked sparring with Adora in the Fright Zone because she like liked her and it was a good way to get close. Adora liked sparring with Catra because...jock.
> 
> 3\. Yes I used the "s" word. I even made Adora say it. Look, she's just confused. No one explained that swoopy feeling in your stomach is not a common response to family members.
> 
> 4\. I love writing snarky Catra and taking-none-of-your-shit Micah.
> 
> 5\. I haven't decided if Catra has tried to draw Adora a dozen times and just never been happy with the result or if she just hasn't felt she's good enough to do it justice so hasn't attempted yet. It's one of those.


	4. Chapter 4

With her keen hearing, Catra could hear Adora and Glimmer arguing long before she rounded the corner. She slid into the shadow, aware that the guard who had been walking with her (monitoring her?) was shooting her a confused look.

“It’s not a good time,” Adora was saying. “We wanted to have Catra’s trial soon. And anyway, you have two battalions close by who can manage things.”

“Two battalions are nothing compared to She-ra. If we lose this bridge our tactical advantage for the region is gone. And the trial isn’t going to happen for a few weeks anyway.”

“A few _weeks?_ Why so long?”

Glimmer sighed. “It’s been two days since she gashed your face. I wanted her to have a _little_ time to establish her mental stability before throwing her in front of a room of princesses.”

“I feel like this is dragging out.”

“And it will continue to drag out if she can’t manage to prowl around under supervision for a few weeks without injuries or property damage. Whether or not you’re around to watch her.” There was the sound of movement. “You know, you would be arguing for this and so much more if it had been anyone other than you she had injured.”

“I…I know. Maybe that’s why I’m nervous leaving.”

“You don’t have to head out this instant. Take some time to work on your strategy and you and Bow can leave tomorrow morning.” Glimmer gave a heavy sigh. “And be grateful. You don’t have any idea how much I would rather go with you two that sit through another discussion about the midwinter festival budget.”

Catra looked over at the guard and jerked her head in the opposite direction. They just shrugged and followed her wordlessly as she headed back the way they had come.

At the end of the hallway a flash of something purple something caught the corner of her eye. Catra’s head snapped to the right just in in time to catch a wisp of something disappear around a different corner. Catra immediately darted after it, ignoring the startled, “Hey!” from her guard.

She dashed around the corner in time to see a blob of purple, sparkling energy at the end of the hallway. It flashed once and then vanished.

Catra ran full speed to the end of the corridor and nearly crashed into Adora, who was rounding the corner from the opposite end.

“Catra!” Adora yelped in surprise. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”

Catra could see past Adora in the hallway and the phantom energy was nowhere to be seen. Her guard was just catching up, clearly out of breath.

“I…uh….”

Adora was tense, eyes darting around the hallway scanning for danger. Her hand was curled around the bracelet Catra recognized as the shifted form of the Sword of Protection.

“I thought I saw a mouse,” said Catra.

Adora immediately relaxed. Her face shifted from concern to amusement. “Seriously? I thought you had outgrown that response.”

Catra could feel her face flushing. “I wasn’t expecting it,” she mumbled. “What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have a mission to plan?”

“How do you know about that?” asked Adora. “_I_ only just found out.”

Catra could feel herself sweating. She cast a glance back at her escort, who was very professionally just standing behind her watching the interaction.

“I….”

“You were spying on my conversation with Glimmer, weren’t you?”

Catra could feel her face turning even redder. “Yes?”

She heard a snicker behind her and turned to see the guard covering their mouth with one hand.

Adora rolled her eyes. “Come on, you can help me figure out the best approach,” she said grasping Catra’s hand and pulling her down the hallway. “You’re dismissed, I’ve got her” she called back to the laughing guard.

Catra gave a quick glance in all directions as they walked away but she didn’t see the weird blob anywhere.

Adora led Catra up to her room and started pulling maps out from under her bed while Catra gawked at the set up. The basic shape of the room was the same as Catra’s, complete with the confusingly extraneous waterfall, but unlike Catra’s barren chamber this room was covered with sparkling glass mobiles, strangely shaped furniture and large cushions everywhere.

Adora glanced back and saw Catra’s expression. “It was worse when I got here,” she said. “My first night I thought the bed was trying to eat me.”

“I thought Micah was joking when he apologized for my ‘toned down’ room,” Catra said. She shook herself and sat on the floor next to where Adora had unrolled one of the maps.

“We’ve had control of this pass on the west side for the past twelve weeks,” Adora explained. “There is a force from Horde Prime that popped through just beyond the forest here.” She pointed. “They’ve advanced up to the tree-line, but they haven’t started a direct assault yet. Glimmer thinks it’s a good opportunity to strike a decisive blow; we have a few troops over there and with She-ra we would have the advantage.”

Catra studied the map for a minute.

“You have the more defensible position within the tower, right?” Adora nodded. “Then you’re foolish to push out into their forces. They’d want you to abandon your position to go after them because they can just circle around and take the pass from the flanks.”

“I thought about that, but we’re protected by mountains on both sides and the river between.”

Catra shook her head. “They can cross here and here,” she said pointing. “I was looking at this spot for an attack back when I was with the Horde, but I didn’t have the supplies to make it work. If Prime has fresh troops and equipment, the river won’t stop them, and the mountains will only slow them down.”

“But….” Adora stared at the map. “Oh. You’re right.” She frowned. “We’re going to need to draw them out. But they’ve just been sitting there….”

“How about this,” said Catra, and launched into a technique she had prepared for a fortress near Talon Mountain.

It was easy to be with Adora like this, planning through the attack, debating strategies and contingency plans. (Or in some cases the need for _seven_ contingency plans.) It seemed only natural to keep working as the moons set and the crystals around the room started to brighten. And when Catra started yawning and blinking sleepily, it was easy to transfer herself onto Adora’s bed, curled up with her head on the pillow, pointing sleepily as Adora continued to move pieces around the map.

At some point Catra fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes again the room was dark aside from a faint bit of moonlight peeking through curtains covering a large window. The light was cast in a thin line along the bed, illuminating Adora’s peaceful face from where she lay asleep, curled on her side, facing Catra.

Catra couldn’t help the sudden, surprised intake of breath.

Adora blinked her eyes open.

They just looked at each other for a minute, noses inches apart.

Then Adora leaned forward to press her lips against Catra’s. The kiss lased for only a second before she pulled back.

Catra couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She felt the ghost of Adora’s lips against her own and the pounding of her heart. She just stared back at Adora’s clear blue eyes watching them widen in response to her inaction.

“I’m sorry,” said Adora, voice hoarse from sleep. “I shouldn’t have done that. We should have talked first, I wasn’t think…mrph!”

Catra cut her off, closing the space between them. She pressed her lips against Adora’s, one hand reaching up to thread her fingers through Adora’s hair, still tied up in its signature ponytail, and pull her closer.

This time it was Adora who was frozen with shock, but she shook it off quickly, placing her free hand on Catra’s hip and parting her lips slightly.

Catra moaned softly and surged forward, rolling Adora onto her back and straddling her hips. Her whole body felt warm and feverish; her skin felt too tight. She deepened the kiss, tongue sliding along the roof of Adora’s mouth and tangling with Adora’s tongue. Catra cupped Adora’s face with both hands. This time it was Adora who moaned, soft and high.

Catra felt dizzy and desperate. Her chest was so full she thought something might come bursting out of her if she didn’t satisfy…whatever it was that was driving her now. Her hands traced down Adora’s face and the soft skin of her neck as their lips moved against each other.

They broke the kiss, gasping. Catra pulled back and looked down at Adora. Her eyes were wide, cheeks flushed and her hair starting to come out of her ponytail in a halo around her head. She was panting like she had been running.

Catra realized she was out of breath too.

“I _do_ love you,” Adora said, voice full of wonder. She almost sounded surprised at the admission.

Catra’s heart started beating faster and that fullness in her chest started to edge on painful. It was getting even harder to breathe now, even though the kiss had broken. She looked down at Adora, who looked radiant and joyful and…confused?

Confused because Catra was just sitting there, looking at her and struggling to take in air.

“Catra? Are you alright?”

Abruptly Catra rolled off Adora to stand at the side of the bed facing away.

“Catra?”

“I have to go,” gasped Catra. “I…I’m sorry.”

“Wait!” shouted Adora, but Catra was already racing out of the room.

***

Micah. She needed Micah.

She was having a panic attack. She knew that was what was happening, she was a certified expert in panic attacks at this point. She wasn’t dying, she wasn’t suffocating; she needed to pause and breathe and focus.

She needed to find Micah.

Catra ran though the castle, searching, but she had never been to his rooms before and the palace was a maze of hallways that all looked the same. Shouldn’t the bedrooms be marked or something? Wouldn’t you expect the former king and queen of Bright Moon to have the largest, most obvious doorway in this castle full of large and obvious doorways? He and Angella should….

Catra stopped short, suddenly faced with the image of Micah and Angella sharing a bed the way that she had just been with Adora. She imagined herself bursting in and finding them…what? Sleeping in one another’s embrace? Kissing? It was the middle of the night, surely they wouldn’t be doing anything more….

The thought was both disturbing and distracting enough to break through some of the fog of her panic. Catra realized she was standing alone in an empty hallway that she didn’t recognize.

Without an escort.

She palmed her forehead. What was she doing? Why had she run away? Her hand drifted to her lips where she could still feel the phantom touch of Adora’s mouth.

Adora. The only person Catra had ever imagined kissing in her entire life. Adora had kissed her and told Catra she loved her and….

And Catra had run away.

Oh no.

Catra’s stomach dropped she thought about Adora, sitting there in shock as Catra left the room in the middle of…. Oh _no._

Catra had to go back. She had to find her and explain….

This new line of thinking was interrupted by the sound of Glimmer’s voice in the distance. Catra gulped and pulled herself back into a shadow, holding as still as possible pressed against a wall.

“What are you?” she heard Glimmer muttering from around the corner.

Suddenly that strange purple blob appeared a few feet away from Catra, hovering inches from the ground. The spot where it had appeared was at the end of a different, better lit hallway that dead ended at the darkened corridor where Catra was hiding. The misty form started to drift slowly away from Catra’s position.

A second later Glimmer rounded the same corner following the phantom, which immediately vanished. Glimmer growled in frustration and teleported herself to the end of the hallway.

Catra slunk after her.

The end of this corridor was even darker and ended in another T intersection. Catra sidled up and peered around the corner, seeing nothing. She crept around but, despite her cat eyes, she couldn’t see much in the shadows. She continued to walk along slowly before a voice brought her up short.

“It’s a shame, really. We never needed to be enemies and you’ve helped me enormously. But then, when have you ever been able to stay out of the business of your betters?”

Catra turned in time to see Shadow Weaver’s mask, repaired with a purple gem in the center, a moment before she was engulfed in black.

*** 

When Catra opened her eyes, she was sitting tied to a chair, wrists bound together with ropes and a gag in her mouth. She immediately tried to shout, but all that came out was a high-pitched squeal through her nose. Her eyes darted around frantically as she took in the scene around her.

Adora and Glimmer were similarly restrained. Adora appeared unconscious still, head drooped down so all Catra could see was the top of her head. She must have been out roaming the castle after Catra left because every hair was back in place again and she was wearing her jacket and boots.

Glimmer was staring straight ahead, fury radiating from her body, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. There was a faint glow to the ropes that were binding her. Catra guessed magic to prevent her from teleporting.

Catra followed her gaze to where Shadow Weaver was sitting, holding Glimmer’s scepter and the Sword of Protection across her lap. Shadow Weaver was bent over the items, brow furrowed in concentration. She gave a grunt in frustration and made a come-hither gesture toward where Glimmer was sitting. Glimmer groaned as her entire body seemed to vibrate with purple energy that flowed from her into Shadow Weaver and then into the sword. The sword lifted slightly into the air for a moment before it sparked, and the energy snapped back into Glimmer. She slumped forward, still conscious but clearly pained.

“I suppose I will have to wake Adora then,” muttered Shadow Weaver. She snapped her fingers and Adora moaned.

“Adora,” Catra tried to call out, but with the gag it just came out as a muffled cry.

Adora’s head snapped up. Her eyes quickly scanned the room as she took in the same information as Catra a moment before. Her eyes narrowed. She mumbled something through the gag that sounded vaguely like, “You won’t get away with this!”

“It is very tiresome how you continue to ignore my advice, Adora,” said Shadow Weaver. “Although I am grateful for your carelessness in this case. If you had listened to all of my warnings about how Catra would impede your success I would have never gotten a foothold back in Bright Moon again.”

Adora’s eyes widened and filled with tears as her gaze shot over to Catra. Catra screamed through her gag and vehemently shook her head, trying to deny Shadow Weaver’s implication.

“Oh, don’t be silly, girls. Catra didn’t _mean_ to lead me here. Any more than she _meant _for me to come to Bright Moon back when her sentiment allowed my escape my cell in the Fright Zone.” Shadow Weaver beaconed and Catra’s chair slid up next to where she sat.

“You always let impulse get the best of you, child,” she said, stroking Catra’s cheek. “Base instincts override judgment and reason, so you just act without thinking.” In a sudden movement she plucked Catra’s headpiece off her head, causing a tuft of hair to flop onto her forehead.

“What did you think this was?” asked Shadow Weaver, holding it over her. “Just some fashion trinket?” She dug a fingernail into one of the black marks at the top of the mask and pried free a small, green, triangular gem. “I should have taken this back the minute I realized you weren’t going to be of any use, but I had the black garnet, so who needed the measly little chips from the Jade Eye.” She gripped them in her fist. “Good thing I left it with you after all. How else would I have made it here undetected? Using the moonstone shards draws too much attention.” Glimmer gasped as Shadow Weaver pulled more power to levitate Catra’s chair a few inches off the ground. “As you can see.”

Catra tried to pull her face from Shadow Weaver’s grasp, tears leaking from her eyes, but she didn’t have enough slack on the ropes. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Adora.

“I can use the pieces of the Jade Eye, but that only gets me so much,” said Shadow Weaver, letting Catra drop. The chair tipped up on two left before toppling over, slamming Catra to the ground. Shadow Weaver took no notice. “And I can draw from the Moonstone as long as I have the Queen here, thank you for the previous access Glimmer.” She tapped the purple crystal on her mask. “But I cannot access the Sword of Protection with Adora just sitting here useless.” She thrust the sword onto Adora’s lap and pulled the gag out of her mouth. “So, say the magic words and let’s be done with this.”

“Never!” shouted Adora.

From her position on the floor, Catra could see Glimmer’s staff on the chair Shadow Weaver had just vacated. She glanced up at Glimmer who was watching Adora do her noble defiance thing at Shadow Weaver.

Catra assessed her bonds. Shadow Weaver must not have been expecting her to follow Glimmer, so it seems like her restraints were non-magical. Catra pulled hard, but the bonds were too tight to slide through. She extended her claws as far as they would go and curled her fingers. The points of most of the claws dug into her palm, breaking skin, but the tip of her ring finger could just reach the edge of the rope.

She whimpered in pain as she worked at the bonds. Glimmer must have heard her because her gaze shot over to where Catra was lying. Her eyes widened when she realized what Catra was doing. She flicked her gaze to the staff and back to Catra, who nodded and gritted her teeth as she worked through the rope. Catra jerked her head toward Shadow Weaver and tried to convey a plea for a distraction.

Glimmer let out a distressed cry, throwing herself forward to block Catra from view and flickering for a moment in an apparent attempt to teleport.

“Quiet, little queen,” muttered Shadow Weaver, flicking a finger and freezing Glimmer in place.

Catra felt her breathing quicken as she continued to work on her bonds.

Shadow Weaver was sucking power from Glimmer and using it to hold Adora up in the air, the sword pressed against her body. “I need you to transform,” said Shadow Weaver. “Don’t you want to try to take me out? You’re certainly not going to get your shot in that form.”

“I will never give you what you want,” Adora shouted.

“I already have what I want,” hissed Shadow Weaver. “I have your _queen_! All I must do is take her with me and I will have unlimited access to the Moonstone. Giving me the Sword of Protection is the only way I leave here without one of your precious friends in tow.” She laughed. “If you even consider Catra a friend anymore.”

Adora paused. Catra could almost hear her questioning the right thing to do. Blood was pooling in her hands as the first threads of the rope started to fray.

“Don’t let your pride be your downfall, Adora. You know I’m right.”

“I….”

The rope came free. Wincing Catra extended her fingers and tried to silently reach down to rip away the ropes binding her ankles.

“Think of Angella and the heartbreak she would feel if her only daughter was taken from her when you could have stopped it. Especially so soon after their reunion.”

Catra crawled to where the staff was lying and seized it. She looked up at Glimmer, whose eyes were wide watching her. She was still held aloft and frozen in place by magic.

Catra breathed. She had done this before, she could do it again.

She leapt at Shadow Weaver, kicking off her back so the sorceress stumbled forward into Adora. She immediate twisted in the air to dodge the tendril of magic that shot in her direction.

“Too slow you witch,” Catra taunted. She braced herself. This next bit was going to be tricky. She launched herself at Shadow Weaver’s side, this time going with her to the ground and rolling away immediately. Then she leapt up into the air timing it a moment slower than she knew she needed to be, feeling Shadow Weaver’s magic seize her and hold her in place at the same time she felt the staff leave her fingers and launch through the air at Glimmer.

Catra felt her muscles lock in place, only short shallow breaths making it past her frozen chest. She fought down panic, eyes focused just beyond Shadow Weaver to where Glimmer, now released from Shadow Weaver’s magic, was clutching the staff. The queen’s eyes glowed for a moment.

Suddenly Shadow Weaver grunted in pain and dropped Catra. The magic that had been flowing from Glimmer into Shadow Weaver suddenly seemed to reverse. Glimmer’s restraints snapped. The sparkle of purple energy gathered at the tip of the scepter. She pointed it at Shadow Weaver and a burst of magic shot forth, sending the sorceress flying across the room and into the wall. Glimmer strode forward, drawing a complex pattern in the air, sending it toward Shadow Weaver, pinning her in place.

“I learned a few things while you were out,” said Glimmer.

Catra sucked in air desperately and crawled over to Adora. She fumbled to untie the ropes, hands sticky with drying blood.

As soon as her hand was free Adora reached up to Catra’s face and wiped underneath her eye. Catra hadn’t even realized she was crying.

“I didn’t…,” she tried. “I didn’t know…about the mask or Shadow Weaver or….”

“Shh, I know,” whispered Adora.

“I didn’t mean to leave you earlier,” Catra was sobbing now. “I just got scared. I was coming back, I promise. I love you too. I think I’ve loved you forever.”

Adora gave a choked laugh, tears forming in her own eyes. “Good, because I don’t think even Bow has enough patience for the meltdown I was about to have in his room.”

Catra laughed and pressed her forehead against Adora’s.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I know,” said Adora. “I forgive you.” She looked up into Catra’s eyes and somehow it was clear she wasn’t just talking about this night.

Catra kissed her, softly at first, but then with growing fervor as Adora opened her mouth eagerly and wrapped her arms around Catra’s back.

“Oh _no_!” They broke apart giggling at Glimmer’s exclamation. “Did this really have to happen right now?”

***

“I don’t know why you’re so nervous,” Adora said, watching Catra pace back and forth across the room. “It’s not like they’re going to send you back to Beast Island after you just saved the Queen and She-ra from being de-powered by an evil sorcerer.”

“You don’t _know_ that,” muttered Catra.

“I do know that because I know the princesses. And stop messing with your bandages, your hands will never heal.”

Catra forced herself to open her hands and retract her claws. “What if they think it’s my fault because of the mask? I mean, they wouldn’t be wrong to blame me, she did follow me in here. Why do I only ever save people who are in trouble because I screwed up? How is that helpful to the rebellion? Plus, they all think I’ve like _defiled_ their precious She-ra ever since Bow told them we were together. You should have seen the looks that sea princess was giving me….”

“Catra, please take a breath,” said Adora stepping forward and placing her hands on Catra’s shoulders. “Shadow Weaver has manipulated pretty much every princess in that room, including me and Glimmer. No one blames you for what happened.” She grinned. “And for any snide comment Mermista might have about our relationship, I have a dozen I could make about whatever is going on with her and Seahawk.” Adora pulled Catra in for a hug.

Catra tucked her head under Adora’s chin and sighed. “When did you become the calm one?” she mumbled against the skin of Adora’s throat.

“Five minutes ago. And it’s not going to last, so don’t get used to it.”

Catra smiled and let Adora scratch her gently behind the ears.

There was a quick knock and the door opened. “Hey, they’re ready for…oooookay, I guess I should get used to this sight,” said Bow.

Catra looked up at Adora who smiled and kissed her forehead. “You ready?” Catra took a deep breath and nodded.

It was the first time Catra had been in the council room. She tried hard not to gawk at all the intricate designs on the walls, which was a little easier given the many sets of eyes that were watching her enter the room. She caught Micah’s gaze and he gave her an encouraging smile and a little nod. She stood up straighter.

When she reached the edge of the table, Adora gave her hand a squeeze and she went to take her own seat. Catra stood across from Glimmer in between Spinerella and Frosta.

“Catra,” said Glimmer, rising. “You come before us, a defector from the Horde, asking to join the Princess Alliance. Please make your case to the council as to why we should accept you among our ranks given your history and previous allegiance.”

Catra took a deep breath.

“I have thought long and hard about what I wanted to say to you all today and before I try to explain why I think you should accept me as a part of your Alliance, there is something else I need to state clearly.

“I am sorry. I did terrible things during my time in the Horde. I hurt every person sitting at this table and countless more. There are complicated reasons for my actions, but no excuses. And before this goes any further, I want to be clear that I regret my actions and will spend the rest of my days trying to make amends for them.

“To that end, I am asking to join the Alliance today because the only way I can begin to repay my debt is to try to protect the people and the lands I once worked against. I…continue…to struggle with the trauma and conditioning of my past, but I am committed to trying to make this land safe from the sorts of people who shaped me into the monster you once knew. Please believe me when I say that I am no longer a threat to the people of Etheria, and, if you will have me, I believe I could be of use in their protection.”

Catra gave a shallow bow and stepped back.

There was silence for a moment. Catra could hear her heartbeat in her own ears.

Then Swift Wind said loudly. “Well that was clearly rehearsed,” only to get elbowed by Huntara.

“Thank you, Catra,” said Glimmer. She turned to the table. “As all of you know, I have been one of the more vocal critics of Catra since she came to Bright Moon. But even I must admit that her transformation has been remarkable. I owe her my life and freedom. Regardless of the decision of the council here today, I count Catra as a friend to Bright Moon.

“Now I will open the floor up to a vote. All in favor of allowing Catra into the Princess Alliance please raise your hand.”

There was a short pause and then Glimmer and Bow each raised their hands, immediately followed by Angella and Micah. Then Huntara and Perfuma. Swift Wind raised a wing. Slowly, one by one every hand, or paw or wing or flipper was held aloft.

“It appears to be unanimous,” said Glimmer. She winked at Catra who was wishing fervently for a chair as her knees felt weak with relief.

“Give your recent service to Bright Moon,” Glimmer continued. “I wanted to present you with this token of thanks.” She lifted a small box and handed it to Catra.

Catra opened the box and found a circlet resting at the bottom. The design was intricate weave of golden wires, wrapped around each other like vines. At the front one of the wires was bent to form two small triangles, mimicking the design of the front of the headpiece Shadow Weaver had destroyed. The green gems that had been hidden in that headpiece were inlaid beneath the points.

Catra looked up at Glimmer, who was beaming at her.

“I…,” Catra stammered. “I don’t….”

“I think what you’re looking for thank you,” whispered Spinerella.

“Thank you, Glimmer,” said Catra. “Thank you…everyone.”

“Welcome to the Princess Alliance,” replied Glimmer and a cheer erupted from the table.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well dear readers, you will have to tell me if I pulled this off. For ATKH I had at least a month of just thinking about the story before I even started writing it whereas Don't Look Down started as four catradora scenes in a trench-coat pretending to be a fic. I didn't know where I was ending when I started and as a result it required more last minute lore building than could be easily woven back through. A good writer would have run it through a few more cycles of revisions and tried to find a beta, but with work picking up and the new season coming out I thought there was a good chance it would never get posted if I delayed. 
> 
> So while I'm reasonbly pleased with the final product, I'm not sure if this last chapter reads as clearly to someone not privy to the inner workings of my brain. I apologize if you're totally lost on a few points. I posted some additional lore below that might answer a few questions, but let me know if there are other things that are not clear and I will either answer them in comments or edit the story if its amenable.
> 
> Disclaimers aside, I hope you enjoyed the story. I loved writing it, and it has proved quite therapeutic after the trauma of season 3. Hopefully season 4 inspires some new ideas. (Maybe with less trauma? Please Catra...just a babystep toward recovery? The reviews are not promising....)
> 
> Some clarifications on lore that I made up for this story:  
-The Jade Eye was the Half Moon runestone. Its whereabouts are currently unknown.  
-Catra's headpiece was one of the crown jewels of Half Moon, which SW stole during the battle when she kidnapped Catra and banished Micah  
-All magic requires use of a focus. For the princesses it is their runestones, for the sorcerers it is the crystal gems. I think cannonically SW mentions that she is the only sorceress who has been able to tap into a runestone.   
-Both types of focuses are First One's tech but only Entrapta has really figured that out and she is still working on how to integrate them.  
-Because no one else had a relationship with the Black Garnet (per Entrapta as mentioned in the show) SW was able to tap into it with impunity. To use the moonstone, SW has to channel through Glimmer, which she can do without Glimmer's permission because of her earlier machinations but Glimmer can feel it.


End file.
